SAP Enters Sports and Entertainment Business for Advanced Ticketing and Customer Relationship Management With Acquisition of Ticket-Web

January 31, 2013 by SAP News

WALLDORF — SAP today announced plans to acquire Ticket-Web GmbH & Co. KG, a provider of ticketing solutions and niche customer relationship management software (CRM) for sports and entertainment promoters. The move paves the way for SAP to offer enhanced solutions to help promoters, venues and teams market events over the Internet and better support arena management.

Flexible, easy-to-use and end-user-oriented dynamic ticketing is critical for all sports clubs, stadiums and entertainment franchises to win and retain customers. When combined with enterprise software solutions, including business intelligence (BI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), CRM and financials, an integrated ticketing solution can help promoters boost attendance, deepen customer engagement and optimize profitability by tailoring offers to individual customers and expanding their business. While Ticket-Web will build the basis for a new integrated sports solution from SAP, it can also be joined to other back-ends, just as SAP can also run with other ticketing systems depending on the customer’s decision.

Based in Wildau, Germany, Ticket-Web is established in Europe with its main product, ENTRÉE-tickets, an online ticketing service. The company also has niche complementary solutions for customer financial process management and CRM.

One prospect of such an acquisition could be to create a ticketing solution that could leverage the high-speed SAP HANA® database technology as well as real-time business analytics, mobile tools and cloud solutions. By enhancing SAP Business Suite software, the SAP Business ByDesign solution and the SAP Business One application with club and stadium management functionality, SAP could offer robust ERP solutions tailored specifically for a much smarter and faster management of sports and entertainment arenas.

In today’s environment, tens of thousands of transactions such as ticket sales can be executed in hours, or even minutes. These could be from fans anywhere, using mobile devices. SAP envisions a scenario where the high-speed SAP HANA platform, combined with BI reporting tools, could give promoters insights — in real time — to better understand which marketing tactics worked and which did not, giving them far more speed and agility to refine offerings to better respond to consumer needs and improve sales.

“SAP is committed to delivering solutions in the world of sports and entertainment that enhance the fan experience, provide real-time insights to improve performance and help sport and event management organizations run like never before,” said Bernd Leukert, executive vice president for Applications, SAP. “The addition of Ticket-Web combined with solutions like SAP HANA and SAP Mobile Platform will help us connect with sports and entertainment fans around the world.”

“We are ecstatic about this new team of Ticket-Web and SAP,” said Joerg Oehmichen, chief executive officer and founder of Ticket-Web. “Promoters of events both large and small will soon have the power and reach of SAP innovation at their fingertips. The result will be a much richer fan experience and the ability to get closer to their customers.”

Ticket-Web employees will become part of SAP. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013.

About Ticket-Web GmbH & Co. KGTicket-Web GmbH & Co. KG provides solutions for ticketing. The solution allows venues and event promoters of any size to ticket and market a full range of events on the Web.